Archeologists were digging up just such a car park in Leicester, long believed to be site of the long lost Grey Friars church, when their excavations uncovered a human skeleton with curiously twisted spine.

The bones of Richard III (the last Plantagenet king of England) which were unearthed in that excavation a few months ago have been verified by DNA testing. Believe it or not, over 500 years later, a distant descendent was found in Canada and appropriately swabbed. Imagine HIS surprise at having English royalty in his family tree!

The king died a gruesome death. They didn’t have forensics back in 1485:

Richard died at Bosworth on 22 August 1485, the last English king to fall in battle, and the researchers revealed how for the first time. There was an audible intake of breath as a slide came up showing the base of his skull sliced off by one terrible blow, believed to be from a halberd, a fearsome medieval battle weapon with a razor-sharp iron axe blade weighing about two kilos, mounted on a wooden pole, which was swung at Richard at very close range. The blade probably penetrated several centimetres into his brain and, said the human bones expert Jo Appleby, he would have been unconscious at once and dead almost as soon.

The injury appears to confirm contemporary accounts that he died in close combat in the thick of the battle and unhorsed – as in the great despairing cry Shakespeare gives him: “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

Another sword slash, which also went through the bone and into the brain, would also have proved fatal. But many of the other injuries were after death, suggesting a gruesome ritual on the battlefield and as the king’s body was brought back to Leicester, as he was stripped, mocked and mutilated – which would have revealed for the first time to any but his closest intimates the twisted back, a condition from an unknown cause, which began to contort his body from the age of about 10. By the time he died he would have stood inches shorter than his true height of 5′ 8″, tall for a medieval man. The bones were those of an unusually slight, delicately built man – Appleby described him as having an “almost feminine” build – which also matches contemporary descriptions.

One terrible injury, a stab through the right buttock and into his pelvis, was certainly after death, and could not have happened when his lower body was protected by armour. It suggests the story that his naked corpse was brought back slung over the pommel of a horse, mocked and abused all the way, was true. Bob Savage, a medieval arms expert from the Royal Armouries who helped identify the wounds, said it was probably not a war weapon, but the sort of sharp knife or dagger any workman might have carried.

Ouch.

Plans are to rebury his remains at in a new tomb nearby Leicester Cathedral.

A helicopter was flying around above Seattle when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft’s electronic navigation and communications equipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter’s position and course to fly to the airport. The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign, and held it up in the window. The sign said ‘WHERE AM I?’ in large letters. People in the tall building drew a sign of their own and held it in one of their own windows. Their sign read: ‘YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER.’

The pilot smiled, waved, set a course for SEATAC airport, and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how he determined their position. The pilot responded: ‘I knew that had to be the Microsoft tech support building in Redmond. The response they gave me was technically correct, but completely useless.’

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Every good blogger has a power behind the throne. It’s been a rocky year so far, but we’ve hung in there like troopers. Here’s a great picture of the better half, along with our dear friend John Berry, in better times.

Happy Birthday, dear Hubby, as you swat all those the gnats at your south Georgia music camp.

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Finally venturing out in internet pub-lick after a week’s worth of general malaise. Whatever this crappy-crappy-crap is that is crawling its way through Atlanta, please sir, let me direct you to the nearest interstate that will ferry the noxious virus over the state line to the well-deserving citizenry of Alabamy. I am so tired of coughing up niblets of lung all over my house. Makes for too much vacuuming.

It never fails that whenever I go off the grid for a bit, the galaxy gets all atilt. In clearing my browser tabs today, here’s hope that Teh Stupid isn’t as catching as the lung fracturing virus.

Thanks to the race-baiting of the Martin/Zimmerman fiasco, Congress wants to overrule various and sundry “stand your ground laws” passed by individual states. Hello? Has anyone in Congress even read the Constitution? Tenth Amendment? States rights? Hell-OOOO? Bueller? Bueller?

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Especially when that baby is wrapped/wearing/spitting-up-on something hand-made with love.

Behold, The World’s Youngest Blogger, wrapped in a blankie knitted by your’s truly. See how happy he is, how snugglicious, how undeniably adorable with his little dimples and impish look. What a bright future he has, learning his trade beside one of the best in the bloggizoneysphere.

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…after a wonderful weekend away. A little disappointed, though, I didn’t snag a sighting of the Iranian Navy. I did see an abundance of shrimp boats, of which I consumed mass quantities of their wares. Nothing like fresh shrimp cooked in a beach house. Yum, yum!

Many things happened while I was away, so let’s dive in, shall we?

Our Imperial Government is pushing it’s way into religious matters, much to the detriment of all. What atheists don’t get is that while they may be cheering for some type of regulation of religious practices, the time will come when they feel government’s hot breath on their necks. The Anchoress notes:

This is not, as someone rather snottily mischaracterized it in another combox, about the loss of a “religious entitlement” — this is about the destruction of a fundamental (and founding) right within our constitution.

If this administration is not stopped, this assault will not affect only Catholics. This will create a precedent that is going to affect all believers, all religions.

However, photos have surfaced of Barack Obama, prior to his election, campaigning with Black Panthers in Selma, AL. But, of course, the White House Mouthpieces will never even notice it. Nothing to see here, move along, move along.

Here’s a guy with time on his hands. Personally, I like Clint, Bruce and of course, Patrick (although he does look a touch too benevolent).

And then we come to the game. What? You think just because I was at a beautiful beach house at my favorite beach in the whole, mostest widest world, I’d miss the game? UGA beat Mississippi State on a glorious fall afternoon. For just a minute, I had that feeling that the Junkyard Dawgs were back to stay. The Senator felt it as well:

I can’t pinpoint the exact moment for you, but at some time during the second quarter, I noticed the return of a curious sensation. I found myself anticipating the defense getting back on the field. It’s been a long time since I felt that way. Damn, have I missed that.

I’m not giving in to any illusions of greatness, but I will admit that the element of hope has crept its way back into my withered heart. After what we’ve suffered through in the previous two seasons, that’s as good a place as any to start.